Max and Rastus ride again - in print

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Legendary Taranaki bikies Max Corkill and Rastus can add another book to the growing body of literature marking their adventures.

Mr Corkill and his cat Rastus rose to fame in the late 1990s for making charity appearances around the country and raising money for the SPCA.

Rastus rode on the front of Mr Corkill's hand-crafted BMW wearing a helmet fashioned from an ice cream sundae dish.

The pair and Mr Corkill's partner, Gaynor Martin, were killed in a head-on crash with a car north of Urenui on January 20, 1998.

Two previous books have been published in the pair's memory, one by Max's great-nephew Logan Sutton, 15, titled Max and Rastus: The Road They Travelled, and friend Carolyn Aish completed a series of children's books, Hide Kitty Hide.

Palmerston North writer Elizabeth Crammer began writing Max and his Marvellous Motorcycling Moggy in 1998 after she learned about Rastus for the first time on the news after the accident.

The book was completed in 2004 and this year was picked up by RSVP Publishing Co.

Ms Crammer was fascinated by the cat's human-like love for riding motorbikes.

"What an unusual creature! He was quite a daredevil."

Ms Crammer said she had been trying to get the children's book published for 15 years and was "absolutely elated" it was finally happening.

The book, aimed at 7-year-olds to 12-year-olds, is 44 pages long with 13 images of Max and Rastus. A dollar from the sale of each book will go to the SPCA.